The fruit man on  the trip to St Lucia

View from new home in Jolly Harbour

Butterfly Antigua to St Thomas As I look back over the years or sailing, I reflect on those tentative sailing moments when the trip from Chichester harbour to Cowes seemed to take forever. I remember the first time I sailed past the needles,  thinking, can I do this? am I good enough? am I safe enough? The minds questions. what if,  suppose so-and-so, the never  ending question and answer debate in my head.  Have I got too much sail up? Will the crew be up to it? Then that feeling of acute embarrassment when someone points out that I still have the fenders over the side, oops.. Now the whole Solent will know that I'm a novice.  Further embarrassment when I decide  to put up the cruising chute  only to find that I have it rigged upside down. That of course is the marker for all the vessels in our vicinity  to change course and banter comments like "so much better the other way up!"! My face as red as a slapped arse and my novice crew, all suddenly finding something to do below. In those days I was always convinced that I would get knocked down and sunk if I went out in force three or four, it took many of those tiny voyages to convince me that one of the most stable things on the sea was a small sailing boat that is well rigged and well maintained.


Many years and many voyages later I still adhere to the rules I set down in those days, which is basically an old Army saying and I quote "prior planning and preparation, prevents piss poor performance!" whether it's an Atlantic crossing or a day teaching in the Solent, I still try and remember those tenants.

For this trip from Antigua to St Thomas in the USVI's I first decided I would do it on my own to enjoy the solitude of the 200 mile trip, eating when I wanted, without mindless banter of additional crew. Then I remembered it was probably a condition of the insurance that I have another member of the crew. So at the last minute I take Brother on board, a local Antiguan guy with strict instructions  to provide me with a steady supply of tea and custard creams.

We leave, its raining, no wind but I do get a steady supply of tea. We slowly motor sail in the direction of Nevis and St Kitts leaving both to port, then its on to Statia ( St Eustatious) then through the night we ghost past the rock that is Saba. Leaving St Croix in the distance to port we sail into St Thomas and Crown Bay.

We are welcomed in Crown Bay by the customs guys who are pre warned of our arrival. The object to clear customs and find a cheap and cheerful berth to keep butterfly until the ship arrived for loading. This proved to be a movable feast, it started with instructions to be in St. Thomas for the 5th of March for loading on the 10th that month. Delays to the arrival of the vessel meant it ended up not loading until the 18th. Then with the sails removed and the fridges are emptied I can leave to fly back to Antigua knowing that the vessel is in the capable hands of the load master and a few friends of mine who were also loading boats.

I have never really quite understood why all sailing vessels aren't sailed back across the Atlantic. The myth generated that there is no stress or less stress by shipping is crazy. There is not a sailing vessel I know that doesn't have some sort of damage or stress loading and unloading on these vessels where as to sail a vessel back across is much less stressful and with all the waiting and delays certainly quicker, not to mention cheaper.